In general, an ice maker is an appliance for making ice in a low temperature storage unit, such as a refrigerator.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a general ice maker includes a shaft SH driven by a driver D and a blade B provided on the shaft SH to scoop up ice.
The driver D is installed inside a housing H, and the housing H includes an inner housing H1 installed at a side of the shaft SH and an outer housing H2 installed to cover the inner housing H1.
Water is supplied to an ice tray IT and then cooled to make ice. As the shaft SH is rotated by actuating the driver D, an ejector E rotates and performs an ice-separating operation.
A water supply unit W supplies water to the ice tray IT and an amount of water supplied is controlled by adjusting an operating time of a supply valve (not shown).
As illustrated in FIG. 2, the supply valve is operated to supply water while an operation terminal MC1-1 of an adjusting micro switch MC1 is pressed. If the operation terminal MC1-1 is no longer pressed to return its original position, the supply valve blocks water supply.
The adjusting micro switch MC1 is installed in a bracket 4 provided in the inner housing H1 or the outer housing H2 (see FIG. 1).
One of existing techniques for adjusting the operating time of the supply valve is to push or pull a control bar 2 by rotating a control screw 3, as illustrated in FIG. 2. As the control bar 2 is moved, the adjusting micro switch MC1 rotates around its one position.
For example, when the adjusting micro switch MC1 rotates around a position 1 (P1), a distance between the operation terminal MC1-1 and a control cam C may vary. Therefore, a time in which the operation terminal MC1-1 is pressed may change according to eccentric rotation of the control cam C, thereby adjusting the water supply time.
However, the following problems arise in the aforementioned existing technique.
That is to say, in order to adjust a water supply time, a user may move the control bar 2 by rotating the control screw 3. Here, in order to adjust the water supply time as desired by the user, the control bar 2 should be moved by an accurate distance. To this end, it is necessary to accurately control rotational displacement of the control screw 3.
However, it is quite difficult for the user to accurately control a rotation amount of the control screw 3. In addition, in view of characteristics of the adjusting micro switch MC1, even a slight deviation in the rotation amount of the control screw 3 may undesirably make a considerable difference in the operating time of the operation terminal MC1-1.
Further, in the aforementioned conventional ice maker, the adjusting micro switch MC1 is configured to rotate around a predetermined position, the rotation center of the micro switch MC1 may be changed according to use, making it difficult to accurately adjust the water supply time, as desired by the user.
In order to overcome the drawbacks, the applicant of the present invention proposed a lever-type water supply adjusting apparatus and method for an ice maker, which can conveniently and accurately adjust a water supply time through movement of the adjusting micro switch, the lever-type water supply adjusting apparatus including an operation lever ascending and descending in contact with an operation groove of a control cam, a micro switch operated by the operation lever and a case movably accommodating the micro switch (Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1730013).
The applicant of the present invention also proposed a water supply adjusting apparatus and method for an ice maker, which can accurately adjust a user's desired water supply time by bringing a pressing bar actuating an adjusting micro switch into contact with a control cam, forming an operating groove in the control cam, varying a width of the operating groove and adjusting a height of the pressing bar, thereby accurately adjusting the user's desired water supply time (Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1730017).
In Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1730017 disclosed by the applicant of the present invention, the water supply is controlled by adjusting the height of the pressing bar while varying the width of the operating groove. Thus, constructions of the operating groove and the pressing bar may become complex.
Additionally, in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1730013 disclosed by the applicant of the present invention, in order to change a position of an adjusting micro switch, a user should transfer the adjusting micro switch in person after deconstructing a housing, suggesting that lots of time and efforts are required in adjusting the water supply time.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned ice maker and techniques related to water supply are widely known in the art, which are particularly exemplified and described in detail in the following cited references, and descriptions and illustrations thereof will not be given.